Central Catholic baseball season ends with loss to Woodland

Central Catholic High School baseball coach Danny Ayala stared at the scorebook, minutes after his first season with the Raiders ended Monday.

Searching for hidden clues as to the cause of his team’s 3-2 loss to visiting Woodland in the opening round of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division III playoffs, he found none.

Mainly because the clues weren’t hidden. They were evident: seven walks and a hit batter issued by the pitching staff, three errors committed by the defense, and just three hits from the offense.

Adding to the Raiders’ frustration, their pitchers allowed just one hit, a run-scoring double in the second inning by leadoff man Nolan Dahler. Other than that, all the damage was self-inflicted.

“Definitely, my control was a little off,” said starter Sam Mundt, a senior who will attend Utah this fall. “It was a tight zone, but I can’t use that as an excuse. My mechanics were off. I just didn’t produce today.”

Mundt walked two of the first three batters in the first, then was victimized by an error that loaded the bases with one out. He plunked No. 5 hitter Justin Borchard to force in the game’s first run, and then walked Truman Linney to make it 2-0. Mundt escaped further damage by striking out the next two hitters.

In the second, after Dahler’s one-out double to left-center, Mundt issued his fourth walk, followed by another error. Mundt’s fifth walk forced in Dahler to make it 3-0.

The 6-foot-6 right-hander settled down. He retired the side in order in the third, and after a walk to start the fourth, he retired the next three batters.

Ayala then went to his bullpen and brought in Mundt’s brother Joey, a sophomore, who retired the first six batters he faced and nine of 10.

“I tried to do my best,” said Joey Mundt, a hard-throwing right-hander who is starting to hear from Division I college recruiters. “I didn’t want it to end like that for (Sam). Baseball’s a pretty big deal to him.”

Joey Mundt contributed to the Raiders’ two-run fifth, singling and scoring on a passed ball to make it 3-2. Catcher Ryan Dami scored Central Catholic’s first run, drawing a leadoff walk and coming home on a groundout.

Woodland starter John Treat walked a batter in the sixth and seventh, but the Raiders couldn’t capitalize.

“Sam definitely didn’t have his best stuff today, but he was still out there battling and gave us a fighting chance,” said Ayala, whose squad finished 16-11. “But you just can’t give away that much early in the game.”

This story was originally published May 16, 2016 at 9:38 PM with the headline "Central Catholic baseball season ends with loss to Woodland."